English translation:

There is hardly any other band that has been subject to such mixed opinions as the group that coined the term „Black Metal“. They probably even have more opponents than fans. Nevertheless, the success of Venom is unstoppable. The new mini LP „Canadian Assault“ will probably go gold in Canada.

VENOM themselves say that they make their music the way they want and can. “If someone accuses us of not being good musicians, they may be right,” says drummer Abbadon. “When we recorded “Welcome To Hell“, we were on average 18 years old and did everything the way we thought was right at the time.“

We have always stick to this attitude. No producer talks us into the sound, we do what we want. If we felt like playing love songs, no one could talk us out of it. So I don’t understand why so many people complain about us. We don’t force anyone to listen to our records. We try to do our best for our fans, for those who don’t like us: piss off!”

The day before Venom flew to the US I was able to do the following interview with Cronos.

Who actually had the idea to start Venom and when was that?

“It was 1978. The idea came from Mantas, he started to organize everything and put together a final line-up. In the first line-up we still had vocalist Clive.”

Why did you guys fire Clive?

“Clive? Yuck! He suffers from a strange disease, I can never remember the Latin name, the abbreviation is A.I.D.S. Clive is now very famous in the homosexual scene of Newcastle. But enough of that , we want nothing more to do with him.”

How did you come to Neat Records?

„I worked at Neat and helped Fist with some technical things. We then wanted to do a demo, but Neat wanted to make a record of that crap. It took 2 days and there was ‘Welcome to Hell.’

How did you end up with your manager Eric Cook?

“He came to our first concert in Poperinge/Belgium. That was in 1982. Since we didn’t have a manager up to that point, we just took the first one to come. And suddenly there was Eric. He’s a bit fat, but he is a very good manager. We owe him a lot.”

How did your next gigs go?

“It was for two nights in April 1983 in New York. It went surprisingly good, although the show was bad. The power went out, my backline was burned out, etc. On the second night, all the pyros exploded at once, resulting in a hole in the stage floor. The guys in the front row had a lot of rags flying around their ears. After that came the 7 Dates of Hell tour, but everyone knows about that.”

How long are you staying in the US?

“The tour goes until the middle of May. The support acts are Slayer and OZ. After that, we’ll take a month’s break and then we‘re off to Europe. We’re also going to Poland this year. I think 2 gigs are safe, but I can’t say exactly yet.“

In an interview Celtic Frost said they got the offer to support Venom on tour. How did that happen?

„Celtic Frost? Shit. Who the hell said that? I mean, we want to offer people something for their money, including a good opening act. So last time we had Metallica and now Slayer. If CF say so, they are liars or they want to make themselves important. Once and for all, CF is shit. I would like to talk to them personally, let’s see if they are as stupid as they look in their photos. We will definitely be back in Switzerland this year, I’m looking forward to it already.”

How do you feel about the success of Raven?

“First of all, I have nothing against successful or commercial groups. But look at Raven. They’re wearing make-up and shit now. All that’s missing is garter belts, disgusting. Anyways, I gave them a present to congratulate them on their success. It was a big package. I took my mother’s lipsticks and Mantas sacrificed his girlfriend’s mascara. I sent the whole thing to John Gallagher.”

When is the new LP coming out?

“By the time this interview comes out, it should be available. It’s also coming as a picture disc, but a little later.”

What are your shows in Europe gonna be like?

“Unfortunately in Europe you’re not allowed to do what you want on stage. In the USA we have a huge pentagram above the stage. It will rise and rotate during the show. Most importantly, we have a lot of new pyros. The whole concert is a set of three different parts with different themes, you’ll see.”

Are you planning on doing a new video?

“Oh yeah, the title isn’t out yet, but I’m the lead. The whole thing takes place in a big room. The extras are 300 blonde women with big tits. I’ll f*** them all, and that’s it.”

Thank you, that’s it.

“No problem. Bye.”